Google's robotic race to the moon is now officially underway, as the first team announce their intention to participate.Coming from the Isle of Man, Odyssey Moon represent an international partnership and have now paid the $10,000 registration fee necessary to take part.
The winners of the Google Lunar X Prize, which was announced in September, will receive a windfall of $20 million.
In order to achieve this, they must land a privately funded robotic rover on the lunar surface that is capable of roaming for at least 500m and sending data and images back to Earth.
The initiative is being run in association with the X Prize Foundation. Chairman and chief executive of the X Prize Foundation, Dr Peter Diamandis, stated: "The Google Lunar X Prize calls on entrepreneurs, engineers and visionaries from around the world to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity."
The man behind Odyssey Moon, Dr Robert Richards, commented: "Our goal is to first win the Google Lunar X-Prize, but in doing so to catalyse a new level of commerce and opportunity beyond Earth's orbit to the moon."
He added that the company also intends to lower the price of getting to the moon and, in so doing, catalyse a "moonrush".
Dr Diamandis went on to say that future generations will view the Google Lunar X Prize as a "turning point of the 21st century".
